ESPINER: Well let’s have a look at some of those specifics in the book. Cameron Slater gets an OIA request granted from the SIS which embarrasses Phil Goff. It’s approved in a few days, which is unheard of for information to be released that quickly, especially from the highly sensitive SIS.OIA response to Felix Marwick, 9 November 2011:
KEY: Well
ESPINER: Did that did that request come across your desk?
KEY: No.
ESPINER: So you’re the minister responsible for the SIS, yet you did not sign off on that request?
KEY: No.
Following discussion with the Office of the Ombudsmen, in relation to your request of 4 August, I can confirm that there was no written "correspondence with the Government and the Office of the Prime Minister regarding the NZSIS decision to release information to Mr Cameron Slater". I notified the Prime Minister (in accordance with my usual practice to keep the Minister informed on a "no surprises" basis) that I was going to release redacted documents in response to the request from Mr Slater. I advised the Prime Minister that I had received legal advice that there were no grounds for withholding the information given the public disclosures already made about the existence and some of the content of the briefing. I informed the Prime Minister that I had informed Mr Goff of my decision to release the information.[Emphasis added]
That's pretty conclusive. Key lied. He tried to mislead the people of New Zealand about his actions. Ministers have been sacked for that.
Update: Tucker is now saying that when he said "Prime Minister", he meant the Prime Minister's office. But further documents released by NewstalkZB show that he told the Ombudsman that he had had a "discussion with the Prime Minister". So, it looks like that desperate rearguard action doesn't stack up either. Key is lying to our faces. Are you going to tolerate that, or vote him out on his arse?